Pulitzer Center Local Letters for Global Change Contest

🌍 About the Contest

The 2025 Local Letters for Global Change Contest is an opportunity for K-12 students to make their voices heard by writing a letter to a local elected representative. The letter should:

• Explain a global issue you want them to prioritize.
• Show how it connects to your local community.
• Propose a solution.

Through this contest, students can practice global citizenship, civic action, and persuasive writing, while exploring underreported issues through Pulitzer Center news stories.

The Pulitzer Center aims to read and share your letters, amplifying the issues that matter most to you.

🗓️ Opportunity Details

• Date Published: August 25, 2025
• Application Deadline: November 14, 2025
• Category:
  • Undergraduate
  • College
  • Contest

🎁 Benefits

First Place Winners:

• $300 to support global community engagement in your classroom (prize distributed to your class teacher).
• Publication of your letter, photo, and bio on the Pulitzer Center website.

Finalists:

• $75 to support global community engagement in your classroom (prize distributed to your class teacher).
• Publication of your letter, photo, and bio on the Pulitzer Center website.

All Entrants:

• Invitation to participate in a Pulitzer Center town hall event (held virtually in November) to share solutions with other students worldwide.

✅ Eligibility Criteria

• Open to all current K-12 students across the globe.
• Letters may be written in English and/or Spanish.
• Letters should address a topic within one of the Pulitzer Center’s five focus issues:
  • Climate and Environment (e.g., climate change, pollution, extractive industries).
  • Global Health (e.g., health inequities, food security, mental health, water and sanitation).
  • Human Rights (e.g., racial justice, gender equality, migration and refugees, Indigenous rights).
  • Information and Artificial Intelligence (e.g., technology and society, misinformation).
  • Peace and Conflict (e.g., war, conflict, peacebuilding efforts).

📝 Application Process

1. Choose a Story:

   • Visit the Pulitzer Center Stories page and select a story that provides new information about an issue that matters to you.

2. Write Your Letter:

   • Write a one-page letter to a local decisionmaker addressing the following questions:
     • What issue do you want the local decisionmaker to address?
     • Why is this issue important globally? (Cite evidence from the Pulitzer Center-supported story and other sources.)
     • Why is this issue important to your local community or to you personally?
     • Why are you writing to this person? What power or responsibility do they have?
     • What do you want this person to do? (Offer a solution and cite evidence that your solution will be effective.)
   • Use this graphic organizer for support or refer to the Resources for Teachers and Students section.

3. Submit Your Letter:

   • Submit your letter using the contest entry form.
   • Provide basic personal and contact information, your teacher’s contact information, and copy/paste your letter into the form.

4. Send Your Letter to the Decisionmaker:

   • After submitting your letter to the Pulitzer Center, consider mailing or emailing it directly to the decisionmaker.

📅 Application Deadline

November 14, 2025

🔗 Application Portal

• View details of the Pulitzer Center Local Letters for Global Change Contest.
• Apply for the contest here.

🏢 Sponsor Organization

• Pulitzer Center

This contest is a unique opportunity for students to engage in meaningful global and local conversations while developing their writing and advocacy skills. Don't miss the chance to make your voice heard!

• First place winners will receive:
  • $300 to support global community engagement in your classroom (prize distributed to your class teacher)
  • Publication of your letter, photo, and bio on the Pulitzer Center website
• Finalists will receive:
  • $75 to support global community engagement in your classroom (prize distributed to your class teacher)
  • Publication of your letter, photo, and bio on the Pulitzer Center website
• All entrants will be invited to participate in a Pulitzer Center town hall event, held virtually in November, to share their solutions with other students from around the world.